Saturday, March 21, 2015

Palm Bay Mom Charged With Killing Her Children

Jessica Lacey McCarty

PALM BAY, Florida -- Police have charged a Palm Bay mother with the murder of two of her children and an attempted murder charge for the
critical injuries to her third child.

According to Palm Bay police, emergency dispatchers received a 9-1-1 call just before 6 p.m. on Friday from a
woman who claimed to have killed her three children in a home on Kenmore
Street NW in Palm Bay. Seconds later, emergency dispatchers received another 9-1-1 call
from a man claiming to be the woman’s boyfriend and the father of one
of the children. The caller reported his child was not breathing.

When
police officers arrived at the home, there was a woman in the front yard
armed with a knife who was later identified as 33-year-old Jessica Lacey McCarty. Police say that McCarty did not comply with repeated commands from the
officers to drop the knife which led the officers to deploy several
“less lethal” bean bag rounds to gain compliance. McCarty was then
taken into custody. The officers then located three unresponsive
children who were later transported to the hospital. The children are
identified as 7-year-old Laci McCarty, deceased, 6-year-old Philip McCarty, deceased and 5-month-old Christopher Swist.
Swist remains listed in critical condition at an Orlando hospital.

An autopsy is scheduled for Sunday and a cause of death has not been
confirmed. “We are still trying to verify the sequence of events, how
and why they occurred,” said Lieutenant Mario Augello of the Criminal
Investigations Division. “This is still a very active criminal
investigation and our priority as always is making sure we have the
right answers so there can be justice in the deaths and injuries of
these innocent children.”

McCarty is in police custody and deputies with the Brevard
County Sheriff’s Office are in the process of transporting her to the Brevard County Detention Center where she will be held without bond on the charges. McCarty will face a judge within 24 hours to address the
criminal charges and issues relating to her bond.